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I'm not sure how much I can trust Google Translate, but I recently noticed a feature, a little shield next to the translation that reads "This translation has been verified. ...". I assume it means a number of people have personally agreed that the given translation is correct. Alright.

The weird thing is [神]{かみ} translates to "God, deity" normally, but [神]{かみ}を translates to just "God", with the "verified" icon. Is the second one more respectful or something like that? What is the difference in meaning?

What exactly is the purpose of the particle? I know about the use of before words like in [お金]{かね}, but it's the first time I see that kind of use of .

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  • Um, 「を」 just marks an object, like 「神を称えよ」 'Praise God!' Google Translate is, suffice it to say, unreliable.
    – Angelos
    Apr 3, 2017 at 0:04
  • @Nothingatall Hm. I've always been careful with it but the "verified" icon made me think twice. If even that can't be trusted... Apr 3, 2017 at 0:13
  • I believe the 'verified' thing just means that someone has given it that through the rating system Google invites its users to participate in.
    – Angelos
    Apr 3, 2017 at 0:14
  • Google Translate is better for full sentences than individual words. For individual words, use a dictionary. A dictionary also has the advantage of having more details about the word and its translations, instead of just one translation result with no explanation. Apr 3, 2017 at 18:08

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を is an object marker and is not used like the お to change a word in anyway.
To put it simply 神を is not a word, but an incomplete sentence.

If you want more info on how to use the を particle, you can read the following page.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/particles2.html

Also, no matter how many little verified shields they use. I wouldn't touch Google translate with a ten foot pole as far as Japanese-English translation goes.

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  • Thank you. I thought that maybe を had a meaning I didn't know about, just like に can mean many things (including some I didn't learn the first time). I really wanted to give Google Translate a shot on this one ^^ (I mainly use it to type kanas and kanjis) Apr 3, 2017 at 0:58

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